The case centered around Apple’s Safari browser, which had certain default privacy settings concerning tracking and cookies. Google, according to this lawsuit, went around those settings and used cookies to track user activity, even where users had specified that they did not want to be followed.

“Consumers should be able to know whether there are other eyes surfing the web with them. By tracking millions of people without their knowledge, Google violated not only their privacy, but also their trust,” said New York attorney general Eric T. Schneiderman in a statement.

Cookies give marketers information about a user’s activity on a website. They can tell a company when you access the site and, if the cookie doesn’t expire for a long period of time, a company can track your habits over time. A third-party cookie will further insert itself into your browser without you even having to be on the company’s website. It can then collect even broader information about where you go on the Internet.

This kind of tracking is controversial and thus many browsers offer the option to turn off cookies. When companies like Google come up from behind and secretly use cookies, however, it’s a big privacy concern.